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Cracking the New York Times Most-Emailed-Article Code

It’s not a very hard code, actually. Here’s what it is: if the article is about old people, cooking, health or animals, it will be on the list. For instance, here’s today’s most-emailed list:

So, to recap:

1. Cookies
2. Cookies
3. Listening to people
4. Husbands
5. Buying food
6. The trouble with playing in the grass
7. Health food
8. I almost had a heart attack
9. Pets
10. I should have done a better job with my elderly parents

I did it! Now I’m reminiscing about the day when five of the top emailed articles were about that smart parrot that died. Literally five.